


i never dreamed

by hingabee



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Blood and Violence, Gen, M/M, Some underage drinking, exploration of gender expression (i guess?), fun in the late 80s, morbid fluff, steven kings 'carrie', xtreme teen adventures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-01-31 11:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12681075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hingabee/pseuds/hingabee
Summary: He doesn’t like any of these people; not even the younger ones, most of them around their age. But they’re all shallow and selfish. And the adults feel even worse to him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> _'Cause there's another world_  
>  _Where there are other girls_  
>  _But tonight there's[only me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxrgb3KqG7o)_  
>   
> 
> eli tries to make friends, mantis tries to unmake them

It is Saturday night.

Mantis watches the people in front of him dance with narrowed eyes. Well, it’s not so much dancing as revolting displays of hormone loaded courtship; bodies twisting and rubbing against each other.

„You don’t have to stay, y’know.“ Eli says beside him, already nodding along to the music. „How’s your head?“

_Bad._

„Told you it would be too much, you better get back home.“ With that Eli elbows him into the side and disappears into the crowd. Mantis frowns behind his mask and straightens his skirt; he’s noticed some guy a few feet away from him staring; so he tugs it down just a little to cover his legs more. Then pushes the intrusive, sticky thoughts surrounding him away and sulks in a corner, quietly watching Eli and that girl. 

He likes her legs. That’s pretty much the only thing on his mind right now; Mantis rolls his eyes; aside from that there is only a subtle hint of Eli’s usual caution with other people left. He’s been hanging around with this group… gang for a while; for „building connections and gathering information“ _of course_ , not because hes tired of Mantis‘ clinging and moodiness or anything like that. 

Mantis knows everybody lies, but Eli is almost never honest, not even in his own head. 

He doesn’t like any of these people; not even the younger ones, most of them around their age. But they’re all shallow and selfish. And the adults feel even worse to him. 

Despite wearing his mask, a room filled with twenty-four people is enough to make Mantis head hurt. 

„Hey, sweetheart, you want a drink?“ 

The boy beside him; the guy from earlier; takes a step back as Mantis whips his head towards him, probably turned off by the mask, but that’s nothing new. He quickly makes way to his spot at the door, accompanied by a few particularly nasty thoughts and assumptions about Mantis. Asshole. Mantis wishes he had at least left the promised beverage; even if Eli’s drunken mind always feels heavy on top of his own; Mantis could really use the numbness right now 

A new song comes on; one of Eli’s favourites; everyone gathers in the middle of the room to start cheering and Mantis can sense a spike of excitement from Eli as the girl presses closer to him. Touches his chest, hips, face… . 

People are dancing and shouting as Mantis pushes past them to get to the tiny, dirty bathroom; his tights get stuck on someones clothing and rip, but he doesn’t care; just snarls at anyone looking in his direction and can not bring himself to leave without letting a light blow out behind him. 

Eli doesn’t even notice him leaving, too busy having a tongue shoved between his lips, and Mantis feels sick to his stomach for knowing, let alone _feeling_ those things through their connection. 

The bathroom is dark when he enters it, but he doesn’t care, locks the door behind him with a wave of his hand and slides down onto the grimy tiles to hide his masked face in his hands. Mantis kind of has the urge to turn back around to blow up Eli’s stupid party; just like the psychic girl covered in pig blood had done in that movie he had seen late at night around Halloween last year. He even had tried looking for the book at the local library, but their only copy already had been checked out. 

For a while Mantis had wanted a pretty dress like the one the girl in the movie wore; though upon finding out about that, Eli had made fun of him. Of course. The skirt is a compromise, kind of, Eli had still complained, though by now Mantis is emancipated enough to wear it out of spite as much as he can. Eli’s conflicted staring; as uncomfortable as it may be; is worth it. 

He sighs and stares at the ugly bathroom carpet trying to get lost in the cheesy flower pattern; but Eli’s mind is buzzing insistently between all the noise and voices from outside the door; almost as if it is calling for him. 

As always, Mantis obliges and turns his attention back to Eli... 

… and has to stifle a laugh; Eli has gotten himself into trouble; which was to be expected, but still, he can’t help but feel a little smug over the whole ordeal. Mantis disappears from the bathroom and perches on a window still in the main room like a little gargoyle to watch the spectacle unfold. 

„Don’t you fucking touch me, bastard!“ Eli yells at another boy with a pierced nose and pushes him to the ground. 

A few girls, including _her_ , try to get the two of them to calm down but Eli’s rival jumps back to his feet surprisingly fast and cracks his knuckles, a dirty grin on his face.

„You think you can just worm your way into here kissing asses left and right, eh?“ He tries to grab Eli by the collar but gets seized by his wrists and growls dangerously. „You’re not welcome here, freak.“

The boy gets punched so hard that his lower jaw breaks on impact; Eli’s knuckles are fractured too; but he doesn’t notice (or care) and slams the guy into the ground to paint his face red. Mantis carefully observes the confused teenagers around them; some of them are cheering and shouting, others retreat carefully; probably to inform someone with higher authority.

Mantis does not really worry about Eli, he’s capable of defending himself even against multiple enemies, also he has all kinds of pocket and jack knives on him; sometimes Mantis even finds them in their laundry or bedsheets when Eli comes home after a particulary rough night.

But tonight he is clearly winning; the other kid is already reaching unconciousness and Mantis watches the blood and teeth splatter onto the ground with growing fascination when he picks up on someones thoughts involving a gun. A few young men; Mantis recognises them as some kind of higher ups, close up on them.

_Eli, be careful._

Eli doesn’t listen, even as Mantis jumps down to the wooden floor and forces his way past the obnoxiously noisy group of people to stand beside him, holding onto his jacket sleeve.

_Eli._

They have agreed that Mantis should not use his telekinesis (or any other _obvious_ powers) in public; too much of an exposure risk; Eli insisted it was way less likely for them to be recognised that way, and Mantis reluctantly aquiesced.

Still his fingers twitch on reflex as one of the men gets close, too close for comfort, and pushes Mantis to the floor; away from Eli; to seize him by the throat. 

„I knew you and your little shadow over here were only trouble. The boss should’ve never agreed to let you snoop around, brat.“ 

Eli just claws at his arms silently and glares at the man while Mantis scrambles up into a sitting position to watch the guy spit into Eli’s face.

Mantis can feel anger rise in his chest but he isn’t really sure if it is his own. Eli’s chest heaves under his heavy breathing.

**_Eli. Don’t._**

He gives him one last pleading look before Eli slams his knee up into the man’s stomach and wrestles him to the ground; within a second he has him pinned and a shiny tiny jack knife pressed against his throat.

A girl screams. 

„Oh my god! He is going to kill him!“

And Eli does; one smooth cut, a sliced jugular pouring the precious red fluid onto the mans expensive looking shirt, a gurgling gasp.

Mantis has to shake off the killing high in favour of their own safety and literally _feels_ the gun clicking before actually hearing it. He panics and blinks closer to Eli, crashes against him and feels something dark, long dormant tugging at his mind; Mantis hears people scream and then blacks out.

  
When he wakes there is fire.


	2. Chapter 2

It is Sunday morning.

Eli can barely keep up with the events unfolding in front of him; in his rage he ignores Mantis insistent voice ringing between his ears and focuses only on the task at hand. The weight colliding with him and the following explosions of blinding light and heat throw him off enough that he falls on his ass. It takes him a moment to be able to see properly again.

„Mantis…?“ His voice dissolves into rough coughing and Eli becomes dimly aware of the flames around him; right next to him is the idiot from earlier, still gurgling up blood with that stupid look on his face. People around them are screaming and crying in confusion, Eli tries to tune the noise out to concentrate on Mantis. 

_Mantis, are you okay? Where are you?_

There is no reaction, not even the usual wordless pulse of annoyance or curiosity from him, and Eli scrambles up to look around the burning room. 

It takes him far too long to finally spot Mantis curled up in on himself in a corner, flames already licking at his boots.

„Shit! _Shit_!“ Eli fights his way through the soaring heat and bumps into a crying girl running past him. As he steps through the flames and stomps them down to grab Mantis by the shoulders and shake him roughly, the fear radiating off him finally pushes through and Mantis starts sobbing as soon as he feels Eli’s touch.

„Are you hurt? We need to get out of here, come on!“ 

Mantis doesn’t reply, just keeps sobbing and clutching his knees; Eli huffs, he can not wait any longer and hurls him into his arms; Mantis doesn’t really struggle as much as he could; just keeps shaking against Eli’s chest and shoulders, grabbing onto his jacket.

„Really overdid it this time, huh?“ Eli mumbles as he pushes past the last fleeing people and greedily sucks in the ice cold night air when he steps out the back door.

They finally stop when Eli deems the distance between them and the burning building big enough and sinks down to the ground by a grimy housewall to let go off Mantis, dropping him onto the pavement beside him. There are sirens wailing in the streets.

_Eli… . I am sorry._

„We almost killed like what, ten people?“ Eli rubs his face. „Fucking hell.“

_It is my fault. I lost control._

Eli doesn’t say anything to that, just watches Mantis press himself against the cold asphalt; despite his singed clothes and a burn on his left leg he is shivering, head turned away from Eli to stare into the darkness of the alleyway. The impulse to touch Mantis flares up in his mind but Eli decides against it when he sees how he recoils at that idea.

„We have to get back to the flat and clean up. We are going to be way too easy to track down after this… .“ Eli sighs. „A shame… really, I just managed to get the telly working and now we have to move again.“

Mantis winces quietly.

  


They are silent on their way home; Eli supports Mantis as they walk, his arm tightly slung around the smaller boy‘s shoulders to keep him steady. As soon as they arrive up in their attic flat Eli starts stripping and motions for Mantis to do the same.

„Come on, we gotta scrub off this nasty smell and get rid of these clothes before getting on the bus.“ He turns to Mantis and rolls his eyes at him standing around awkwardly. „Hurry up, you look like shit!“ 

With clear reluctance Mantis slowly starts shrugging off the layers of clothing covering his skinny limbs and frowns at the remains of his burned skirt. He hisses when he peels off his tights; the nylon has melted on some spots and is stuck against his burnt skin; the wound on his shin already oozing sick, yellow fluid from broken blisters.

Eli watches him for a moment before huffing in annoyance and digs around for a pair of scissors to ease the process a little; when Mantis is finally freed from his clothing Eli drags him downstairs into the empty, rundown flat beneath their attic space and pushes him into the grubby bathroom. Electricity and water work here most of the time and Mantis is pretty sure that their elderly landlord downstairs would not notice them, even without his little talent of hiding them both from curious eyes.

„Get in,“ Eli points at the shower and gently puts a hand on Mantis‘ shoulder in a poor attempt to calm him down a little. „I’ll help you clean your leg. And you can take these off too.“ He tugs at Mantis‘ underpants. „I won’t look, promise. Nothing I haven’t seen before, anyway.“ Eli cracks a forced smile and climbs into the dirty bathtub, turns on the water and starts scrubbing the ashes off his face. Mantis watches him warily and hugs himself. 

„I’m really sorry , Eli. I know you are mad.“

Eli scoffs and squeezes a dollop of shampoo onto his palm. „I’m not mad _yet_ , so you better get your get your butt in here now.“

Mantis opens his mouth to argue but closes it again when he realises that there is no discussion to be had and, with a sigh, slides off his underwear and undoes the straps of his mask to quickly slip under the spray of warm water. His leg burns; but that isn’t a new sensation and he hastily soaps up to let Eli clean his wound carefully. The buzz in his head is uncomfortable but still bearable for now.

„Maybe we should cut our hair… .“ Eli muses as they dry off and straps Mantis‘ mask back on. „It’s less likely we’ll be recognised. There were alot of witnesses after all.“

„Are they coming for us?“ Mantis asks; the dubious and uncertain ‚they‘ a frequent threat Eli warns him about. He likes his hair though, wants to keep it; even if it means that they are more likely to get caught.

_I killed so many. I am sorry. I know you like having friends._

____

____

„Not yet. But they will as soon as someone tells them about me. They’ll find out where we are staying and then take you away.“ Eli looks serious as he helps Mantis up the stairs to the attic and ignores any mention of their crime. „You don’t want that do you?“ 

Mantis readily shakes his head, knowing that Eli doesn’t want that to happen either. 

„Good. Then get dressed and pack a few things. We’ll be out of here before sunrise.“ 

__  
It is warm on the bus; Mantis leans against Eli and watches him draw lines on a map of South Yorkshire with half lidded eyes. Occasionally he gazes out of the window to watch the early traffic; children on their way to church and all kinds of people crossing the streets. For a while there are alot of fields and trees and Mantis has almost fallen asleep when suddenly Eli pats his thigh._ _

„Hey. Sorry about that skirt of yours. I know you really liked it.“ 

Mantis hums to signal that he has heard him and closes his eyes again.

There is another pat on his thigh and the hand does not leave this time. Eli clears his throat beside him but stays silent.

  


After a while he speaks up again:

„I’ll get you a new one as soon as we are out of here, promise.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is done for now... _maybe_


End file.
